Conversations over a Go Board
by Kim Smuga
Summary: This started as a one shot Akari musing. But I got so many postive reviews that I added a Comedy of Errors second chapter and then a genuine if all ages shonen ai final chapter. The sequel coming in 2006 will be called Endgame.
1. Conversation between Rivals

Coversations over a Go Board - chapter 1   


Conversation between Rivals  
by Kim Smuga-Otto  


Disclaimer - these are not my characters, this is not my world or set up, all credit, thanks and apologies go to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi.

I've retitled this story "Conversations over a Go Board", with this, the first chapter being called "Conversation between Rivals" The story can be interpreted as yaoi or not, kind of like the series. The first part is more serious, the second more of a comedy of errors. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Her hunch was correct. There, tucked far into the back corner of the room was the familiar tuft of bleached hair. It was convenient that he'd finally had his growth spurt last year, it meant she didn't have to walk down each row of go players looking for him. Not that Hikaru had gotten tall, Akari still towered over him when she wore her platform shoes, but at least he now looked like a proper seventeen year old. 

"Hikaru," she said as she approached the table, "your mother said you'd be here. Or rather, she said you were at the go salon. I don't think she's aware of just how many there are, even nearby your house." 

Hikaru's attention didn't waver from the game he was playing. Akari could hear the chitter of the stones as he reached into his bowl. Hikaru's hand paused for the slightest of moments before placing decisively placing the stone, pachi. 

Akari tried again, "I'm glad you guys decided to play here. Touya-kun, your father's salon is always so clean and cheerful, and there are no creepy guys here." 

"Oh," Touya Akira looked up from his game, blinking as if surprised. Hikaru wasn't the only one completely engrossed in this game. "That's very kind, Fujisaki-kun." 

"Don't distract him, Akari," growled Hikaru. 

"She's not -" 

"When I win this game, I don't want you claiming it was because you couldn't concentrate." 

"When you win, Shindou?" Touya made a noise that Akari could only describe as a scoff, and placed a stone so deliberately on the board that Akari gave a small start. Hikaru barely scrunched his eyebrows. 

Akari looked at the board. They were still in fuseki, the initial laying out of the stones. With her limited experience, she couldn't tell if either one was ahead. 

"Is this your second game, then?" She ventured."You mother said you left several hours ago." 

"No, this is our first game," Touya spoke, his attention fully on the board."We just started." 

"What were you doing before?" Akari asked. 

"Just talking, hanging out. Geez Akari." And Hikaru placed another stone. 

"We were going over the kifu's from the recent international go tournament," explained Touya. The idea of the two rivals discussing anything seemed odd. 

"Oh, so -" 

"Akari!" Hikaru interrupted her, looking straight at her for the first time."Are you going to talk during the entire game?" 

"I -" 

"Perhaps we should take a break, Shindou? Fujisaki-kun must have searched you out for a reason," Touya pushed away from the table and fixed her with a mild look. 

Unlike Hikaru, who seemed almost like a separate person when he wasn't playing or talking about go, Touya never lost his calculating look. The difference was in the intensity. The steely look that had been in his eyes when he placed his last move was gone, but that didn't mean they were now dulled or distracted. Akari sensed he was still evaluating, still judging the strengths of his opponent. Obviously his mind was still very much on Hikaru and their game. 

Hikaru gave a martyred sigh."If I listen to you, will you let us play?" 

Akari almost said yes, but revised her reply. 

"If you agree to my request, I'll let you play." Akari said, and added, "I'll even leave." 

"What do you want?" Hikaru eyed her suspiciously. 

She launched into the spiel, "Haze junior high's festival's this weekend. The go club will have a stand and it might help them recruit more members if they had a real pro player giving short lessons. Would you come, Hikaru?" 

"What? Why should I? We're in high school, or at least you are. And I believe it was you that asked me no to go to any more of your practices. And what would Mitani say?" 

"Since when did you care about Mitani's feelings? Anyway, as alumni it's our duty to support our old club. You could inspire some kid to play go, just like Kaga and Tsutsui inspired you that one time." 

"By threatening to throw me into an ice cold pool?" Hikaru looked incredulously at her.

"It sounds like fun."

"An ice cold pool? What, are you nuts, Touya?"

"No, the demonstration. I've never been to a school festival. I wasn't in your go club, but if you need go players . . ." 

"You're volunteering? Oh, that would be wonderful." Touya was an excellent instructor, and with him committed, Hikaru was sure to want to join in. They were rivals after all. "Thank you, Touya-kun. It will just be next Saturday afternoon, from 12:00 to 4:00." 

"I'm free then," said Touya, "What do you say, Shindou-kun?" 

"Please Hikaru," Akari executed a slight bow, "I'll even buy you a ramen dinner afterwards. You too, Touya-kun." She added. 

"Free dinner?" Hikaru seemed to consider this, "Do I get to choose the place?" 

Touya's smile dropped slightly."I'd be glad to come for the demonstration, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline the meal, I have a commitment later that day." It was a standard apology, but Akari wondered briefly if there wasn't genuine regret behind the words. It couldn't be, Touya wasn't like Hikaru, able to get actually worked up about going out for ramen. 

"All right, I'll do it." Hikaru decided. "But only until four, and then we go get ramen." He gave her a goofy sort of grin, probably thinking about the free dinner, but it cheered her nevertheless. 

"Oh, yes!" cried Akari, clapping her hands. "I'll see you tomorrow, by the steps. Don't be late."

"All right already." Hikaru's voice had an edge to it once more. "I'll see you then." 

Akari knew when not to push her luck and headed for the exit. She had to keep herself from skipping, she was so happy. Hikaru was coming, and afterwards they were going out to dinner. It was a date, or something close to one. 

Not that Hikaru would see it that way, she realized as she stood just inside the salon's entrance. He'd be too busy stuffing his face with ramen to even realize that it was just the two of them out together. And he'd be sure to complain about all the poor go players he had to play. They'd most likely end up arguing until one of them stormed out of the restaurant. 

The sun had just set and it was going to be a chilly trip home. She'd probably come up with a hundred reasons why the ramen dinner would end in failure. Cold reality would soon set in. 

She'd pause here, just a moment in the warm foyer. Just a few minutes to enjoy the idea of having a date with Hikaru. And who knew, Hikaru was nearly eighteen, maybe things would go better. Maybe something wonderful would happen. 

"Just you wait, Hikaru-chan, I'll make you have fun." She spoke the words quietly, but aloud. 

"Such determination," came a voice behind her. 

"What?" she spun about to see Touya. He was giving her a bemused look, and something more that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Hikaru will be pleased to know he's not the only one Touya snuck up on. 

Waya, Hikaru's friend and another professional go player, claimed that Touya was stuck-up and arrogant, but he'd always been quite charming to Akari and, for tht matter, to other women,, quite unlike Hikaru. But there was a coldness to his looks as well, and right now it seemed to be aimed at her. No, that couldn't be, Touya's mind must still be on his and Hikaru's go game. 

"You didn't give me directions, and I don't trust Shindou to write them down." 

"Oh," said Akari. She dug through her purse for a scrap of paper and pen to write with. 

"It doesn't take much for Shindou to have fun, though. He's extremely easy going about almost everything." Touya's focus didn't stray from her face. 

"Yeah, he's always been that way. I never saw him looking serious until he started playing go." Akari smiled, remembering the exasperated look his mother would give him after each parent teacher conference. "Here," she handed Touya the rough sketch, "You know where Haze Junior High School is, this is the front gate, and you go here and left here, and that's where the stairs are. Okay?" 

Touya nodded, took the paper, and placed it carefully in his pocket.

"You like him, don't you." the way Touya spoke made it a statement, not a question. Akari felt herself go red and managed a quick nod.

"Have you confessed how you feel?" This was a question, and Touya was watching her intently for her answer. 

"Once," she admitted. _Why was Touya so interested?_ She didn't see him as the type of boy who'd volunteer as matchmaker. Was it some ploy to get a psychological edge over Hikaru? But Touya loved the challenge of playing Hikaru as much as Hikaru loved the challenge of playing Touya, he wouldn't want any unfair advantage. 

"And?" asked Touya. 

Akari smile, "He told me wasn't interested in girls." 

Touya's face went blank, like he had been physically struck. It was as he raised his hand to cover his mouth that Akari realized how he had interpreted Hikaru's statement.

"No," she said quickly, "I didn't mean to imply - he was only seven years old back then. I haven't brought it up recently."

Touya turned away from her briefly, when he looked back he was more composed, with even a small smile on his face. 

"There isn't anyone that Hikaru likes, is there?" Akari asked. Maybe Touya was trying to let her know not to get her hopes up. 

Touya shook his head, "For Hikaru there's only go."

"For you too, right Touya-kun?"

"Yes," said Touya, but there was a hint of color to his cheeks that made Akari think he was lying. No doubt with Touya's looks and social standing he'd at least be dating. That woman who managed the go salon certainly had her eye on him. 

"You're a nice girl, Akari-san, and cute. I'm sure you could find a boyfriend much more conscientious than Shindou." 

"Maybe," admitted Akari. Mitani was fond of telling her that, usually pointing out several of Hikaru's shortcomings to illustrate his point. "But . . . Hikaru's special. He's unique."

Touya was nodding in agreement, "You mean the way he plays go." 

"Kind of, but . . ." why was Hikaru special? How could she explain what she just knew instinctively? "Even before he started playing go, I always knew he had the potential to do something great, and I wanted to be there when he achieved that greatness. Not just to be standing by, but to actually be a part of it. You probably think it's rather silly." 

"I know," she continued as Touya gave her a curious look, "since his talent is go, I'll never really be able to be part of his world. I've tried my best to learn, but I know I'll never catch up to him. So, it really is hopeless." 

She didn't dare look at Touya as she spoke. Akoto-san assured her that the important part was that she was trying, that she was getting better, and while it was great that she was learning go, most men chose girlfriends and wives for other reasons. But Hikaru wasn't a normal boy, and he wouldn't be a normal man. More than anyone else, Touya knew this and Akari didn't think he'd lie to make her feel better. 

For a while, Touya said nothing, like he really was planning out a move in go. 

"Shindou chased after me, when he should have known it was hopeless. And now we truly are rivals." 

"Hikaru's known for having a thick skull." 

"And a one-track mind, and the ability to ignore everything that doesn't support him achieving his goal. At first I thought him an idiot, but now . . ." he had an almost dreamy smile on his face, "it's one of the things I admire most about him." 

Touya's eyes had softened too. Akari felt a momentary pang of jealousy. Touya was like the teen-idols that graced the covers of girls' magazines. How could he know what it was like caring for someone who would never see you as more than a friend, and most of the time see you as something less? 

"So give up on him." said Akari, her bitterness came through to her voice.

"What?" Touya's grace fled. He looked shocked, possibly even scared. 

"You're saying that I should just give up because Hikaru will never see me the way that I want him to." Akari was angry. No one understood, not Touya, not Hikaru. "That I should walk away from the one thing I know I want, to settle for just being the friend that's lousy at go and makes demands on him. It would make sense, after all. But . . . " 

The burst of emotion had left her. She looked to Touya to see if she'd offended him, but no, he had that curious smile on his face again. 

"But you're too thick-headed to know what's impossible." He said. 

"Just like Hikaru." Akari finished. For a moment she'd felt utter despair, but now she felt hope. Not in changing the way that Hikaru felt about her, but in her ability to keep chasing her dream. It was probably just her imagination, but Touya looked like he was experiencing something similar. 

"Yes, just like Shindou. We're both hopeless, aren't we? Oh," he glanced at his watch, "I need to get back to the game. Shindou's going to have a fit." And, with uncharacteristic abruptness, Touya retreated back into the salon without saying goodbye. 

Akari shook her head. Touya didn't know how much Hikaru admired him as a player, must not see how, even now, Hikaru was chasing after him. He might not realize, but Touya was and would always be Hikaru's rival. 

That's what he desired after all, wasn't it? Of course - she assured herself as she stepped out into the cold winter night - what else could Touya Akira desire?

* * *

authors notes (12/23/02) - I had some spelling and grammer errors in this the first time, so this is the revised version. I was really impressed that the Hikago fanfiction readers noticed such things. It's good to have standards.


	2. A Comedy of Go Errors

Conversations over a Go Board - Chapter 2  
A Comedy of Go Errors  
by Kim Smuga-Otto 

Hi all. When I showed the first part of this Hikaru no Go sketch to my husband, he said it was good, but that I should really write a second half, set during the festival, and write it as a comedy of errors. I replied, that's nice dear, but really, I'm not sure if the cast of Hikago is really set up for that, I mean, they're so serious about trying to solve their shortcomings. But then I thought about it, and certain situations started presenting themselves. Plus, I got so much positive feedback from the first half. So here goes, hope you like. 

Disclaimer - these are not my characters, this is not my world or set up, all credit, thanks and apologies go to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi. 

* * *

Everything was going perfectly, thought Akari. The weather, sunny with only a hint of chill in the air, was as fine as the Haze Junior High winter festival could hope for. People had turned out in force and the Go club's location, right next to the home ec club's okonomiyaki stand, couldn't be better. There had been the ten long minutes before Hikaru and Touya had made their appearance in which Jiro, the club's captain had been in a near panic, but they were here now. Apparently, Hikaru had been showing Touya around; maybe they really were becoming friends.

"Fujisaki-sempai," Jiro's high pitched voice chirped in her ear, "is it true that Shindou-san qualified as a pro when he was my age?"

Jiro was the club's captain and in charge of the stand, but he seemed quite glad to hand things over to her. When Akari had been in junior high,Tsutsui had seemed almost an adult; Jiro seemed too young to even be in junior high, much less the eight grade.

"Technically yes, but pros don't start officially playing games until April. So he wasn't really a professional until ninth grade."

"Wow . . ." Jiro's eyes got even bigger.

"Any possible new members, Jiro-kun?" Akari asked.

"No, not yet." Jiro sighed, "It's mostly old men."

"Well, old men have kids and grandkids. And it looks like Hikaru and Touya-kun are all set up. I'm sure that will attract people." All they needed was one more boy and the club would have enough for the winter tournament.

""I hope you're right, Fujisaki-sempai." said Jiro, looking far from convinced. 

The stand was rather nondescript, with only a black and white banner and no indication that the two teenagers sitting behind the folding go boards were the rising stars of the Japanese Go world. But Hikaru had thrown a fit at even wearing a name tag; Akari had decided to attribute it to modesty on his part, and not embarrassment at having to make an appearance for the club.

"Jiro-kun, did you put together that poster of tsumego? Let's put it up on the other side of Touya-kun. Maybe we can get some people to stop by to try out the go problems."

"They're probably not good problems." said Jiro. 

He looked like he was being forced to eat natto. Akari decided it was time for a pep talk.

"You have to believe in your go team, Jiro-kun. When Tsutsui, my old sempai was the eight grade captain he had no members, none. But he loved go so much that he knew he could find more members. So you know what he did? He set up a stand at the festival, just like we're doing now. And who do you think wandered up to his stand and started playing go?"

Jiro, spellbound, shook his head .

"Shindouu Hikaru." said Akari, "And from there they roped in another player, went to the junior high winter tournament, and won first place that year. They even beat the unbeatable team from Kaio." It sounded like some Kurosawa samurai drama, but with go instead of swords.

"Wow . . ."

"Too bad we were disqualified because Shindou was a grade schooler back then." said a male voice, crashing the moment back to reality. "And you forgot to mention that Shindou's first game blew so badly that we'd never have made it to the second game if I hadn't been there."

"Kaga-sempai!" Said Akari, not believing her eyes.

The redheaded former Shougi captain gave her a devious grin, and turned back to Jiro. "That Tsutsui, he was a nerdy runt, just like you, kid. But he had balls, and he didn't stand around moping. You want a go team kid? Go out there and earn yourself one."

He gave the eighth grader a push on the back, and whether from inspiration, or fear of Kaga, Jiro took off like a shot to put up the go problem poster.

"So, Shindou's a pro now, is he?" said Kaga in a thoughtful manner as he started towards the table. Akari followed him, and heard him say even more softly. "What a waste."

"Hey Shindou, still spending all your time playing go?" Kaga said by way of greeting.

"Hey Kaga, still spending all your time playing shougi? They must have a university club." Hikaru replied, looking quite happy. He wasn't an easily intimidated kid anymore.

"Naw," said Kaga in an offhanded manner, "I've got an even worse habit these days."

"What's that?" asked Akari. Drag racing? Martial arts? Anime?

"Solid state physics, specifically low temperature stuff. Even got an internship lined up in MIT this summer." One would think, the way Kaga said the words, that he'd been inducted into the Yakuza. But then, Kaga could probably make opening a pension plan look like a form of government subversion.

"That would be . . . quarks and such?" ventured Touya, and Akari was glad that at least one of them knew something of what Kaga was talking about.

"Elementary Particle physicists," Kaga scoffed, "they're just a bunch of wankers. I'll be studying hydrogen entanglement. It's all theoretical, but it'll pave the way for the quantum computer, and then everything, cryptography, modeling systems, biological simulations, they're all going to change. And I'll finally wipe that smug look off his face."

No one spoke, even Touya seemed at a loss.

"Shindou," said Kaga, coming back to earth, somewhat, "Remember back when I told you I had beaten that Touya Akira kid? It wasn't exactly the truth, I'm pretty sure he let me win because he heard my father giving me a hard time, probably felt sorry for me. But if this whole quantum computer thing works out, we'll have the lookahead ability, coupled with all the known go heuristics, to allow us to Kasparov any go master. Touya won't stand a chance. I'm afraid you're going to get squashed too, Shindou, and you too," he turned to Touya, "sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Waya," Touya said promptly, "Waya Yoshitaka."

"Good to meet you. Don't lose too much sleep over it, guys. We're at least five years away from a working prototype. And it's not like anyone wants to put go players out of work. I'm sure there will be plenty of human-only tournaments and all." He stood and surveyed the crowds. "Well, I've still got my old shougi club to harass. And maybe look up an old teacher or two. God, I love reunions."

After he was gone, Touya said softly:

"I remember that game. I did lose on purpose."

"Out of pity?" asked Shindou.

"Out of sheer, unadulterated fear. There were these rumors about what he did to fifth and sixth graders, gave me nightmares for years."

"Fujisaki-san," said Jiro, he'd re-materialized only after Kaga had left. "This woman wants a lesson from Shindou-san."

Behind Jiro stood a formidable young woman. She was tall, almost six feet, and while not fat, there was a solidness to her body. Something about her short paige haircut seemed familiar.

"It's Kaneko-san." said Akari, recognizing the volleyball go player. Akari hadn't seen her since graduation.

"You're going to show me how to beat Mitani-kun." Kaneko was pointing at Hikaru in a menacing manner. 

"Why me?" Hikaru asked. "You want Touya. He's a higher dan than me."

Kaneko looked at Touya, a frown on her face. She'd never quite lost the bulldog look. "No," she decided, "It has to be Shindou. You've played him, you know his style."

"I haven't played Mitani in years," Hikaru protested, but Kaneko had already set herself down in front of him.

"Last time he got me, the stones were like this," said Kaneko as she dug into the open bowls. "Hi Akari-san. Has Mitani-kun been by? He told me he'd be here. Bet he'll be as surprised as I was that Shindou's here, huh?"

"It's going to be a regular reunion, then." Said Hikaru, scowling. Touya looked on in a bemused manner.

"Mitani-kun?" said Akari. "That's right, you two go to the same high school. Do they have a go club?"

"Yeah, Mitani-kun shows up for practice, but refuses to compete in tournaments," said Kaneko. "Why did you move there, Shindou? Explain."

"Place your next stone. All right then I go here, and you have to move here, and I place a stone here, and now I take all of these."

"Oh, I see." To Akari she continued, "Mitani-kun's thinking of entering some of the amateur games. So, I have to get better, otherwise he might find another rival. Okay, Shindou, where should I play now?"

"You're this Mitani's rival?" asked Touya.

"Well, yeah, someone has to be. It used to be Shindou, but he quit the go club."

"I didn't quit! Or, yes I did, but there was a reason."

"Shindou-kun," Touya cried out in a hurt voice, "you had a rival before me?" 

He even had the emotional eyes and pained expression to go with it. Shido's mouth dropped open enough to catch flies and Akari laughed. Touya had actually made a joke.

"So you're chasing after Mitani, Kaneko-san?" Akari ventured, Kaneko, intent on her next move had missed the exchange.

"Yup," Kaneko said solemnly. Pachi. "I'm even getting a private tutor this semester. Let's go back four moves, I want to try something else."

"It won't make a difference," said Hikaru, "see, I still have the advantage. You needed to be stronger when you placed the original stone, after that it was all over. Honestly, does Mitani even know you're chasing after him?"

Kaneko didn't say anything as she studied the spot, nodding slowly. Akari felt sorry for her. Hikaru still talked without thinking. 

"He will. I can still beat him with a two stone handicap, sometimes. I just can't let him get any further ahead." she said, "That's good for a lesson." and she began clearing the stones off the board.

"What will you do if you catch him?" Touya asked as she stood.

Kaneko got a crafty smile on her face at that. "When I catch him, I'm making him my boyfriend."

"What? I didn't know you liked Mitani-kun." said Akari.

"We're rivals. We have a bond." said Kaneko with utmost seriousness, "it's deeper than liking." She turned to walk away.

"And if you never catch him?" Hikaru called after her.

"Oh, in that case," the girl said over her shoulder, "I have a back-up plan. I'm on the judo team too."

"Her determination reminds me of someone." Akari teased, not realizing her words' implications until they were out of her mouth. 

* * * 

"There's too many people around. I don't see them anywhere." said Waya. "It's not that big of a festival, do you think they might have left?"

"As we have no idea why they came in the first place, maybe," ventured Isumi. Good thing they were professional go players, he thought, they wouldn't have lasted a day as undercover detectives.

"Something seriously weird is going on." said Waya, for what must have been the twelfth time that day. "First Shindou asks for a rain check for our visit to the go parlor, the one that he set up. Then he won't tell us why, gets all mysterious about it when we press him."

"Forcing you to decide that we have to stake out his house and follow him."

"Well, duh. And I was right. He had a rendezvous with Touya Akira. What possible explanation could justify those two meeting up outside of a go salon?"

Isumi and Waya had lost sight of them shortly after that. And Waya had been speculating on the nature of the meeting ever since.

"I know, maybe there's a recluse master go player around here, and they're off to study under him. Damn Shindou, why didn't you invite me? You don't even like Touya."

"They have been getting along much better recently." said Isumi mildly, but he let the matter drop. There were certain topics that it was best not to speculate on. It was the same reason that Isumi hadn't dared joke that they check out the local love hotels.

He scanned the crowds once more. An amazon of a woman striding purposely through the crowds caught his attention, in her wake was an opening just large enough to see a familiar face sitting behind a go board.

"Hey, there they are!" Isumi sighted them, "Look they're tutoring at a go stand. See? Perfectly reasonable explanation."

"Yeah," said Waya, lightening noticeably, "He probably didn't tell us because he knew we'd come by and razz him. Know what?" A big smile spread across Waya's face, "he was right." And Waya took off for the booth. 

"Here's a sight, Isumi," said Waya loud enough for everyone to hear, "Shindou Hikaru and Touya Akira, the new generation's most famous rivals, putting aside their differences to encourage tomorrow's future go players."

It was quite the reaction. Isumi looked from one face to the next. The girl, Isumi remembered her name was Akari, had a flustered smile on her face, Shindou was pointedly not making eye contact with anyone, and Touya . . . he'd almost say Touya was blushing.

"What," Isumi asked under his breath, "what did you say?"

"Just because that reporter's story - " Shindou began.

"Oh, come now, Shindou, what ever happened to I'm Touya's rival and he's mine.'?"

Waya looked to Isumi who nodded in confirmation. Not that any of them had believed the statement when Shindou had proclaimed it so many years ago.

Shindou rolled his eyes. "I was thirteen years old at the time! Geez."

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about," said Isumi gently, trying to smooth over whatever buttons Waya had inadvertently pushed, "It was really impressive the way you chased after him, the way you kept improving in order to get him to acknowledge you. It must have impressed you,Touya, right?"

It didn't work, Isumi was certain that Touya was blushing. Waya, never one to let such an advantage slip by, pressed on.

"Hey, Touya, I once heard a rumor that you dorked around in a junior high go club, even took third board, just to get a shot at playing Shindou. It's not really true, is it?"

"I'm going for food." said Shindou, standing up. "Isumi and Waya can take over for me. They seem to have so much time on their hands."

He charged off, and Touya made a point of snagging a passing child to try out a go problem.

"Excuse me," Isumi turned to the girl, "Is something bothering Shindou?"

"Umm," Akari gulped, "I need to find an extra go board, be back in a minute."

"Something seriously weird is going on." said Waya. 

* * * 

"Yuuki," Yaeko said finally, "We've played for fish twice, entered the manga club's raffle, and eaten far more deep fried food thean is healthy. Either we visit that blasted go booth or we go home."

"Fine, lets head home. I didn't want to come anyway."

Yaeko rolled her eyes. Of all the bratty brothers, surely she was stuck with the brattiest. Didn't he know that she was doing this for him? Ever since last semester when she'd taken that intro psychology class and realized that her family was seriously dysfunctional, Yaeko had been doing her best to help, not that they recognized it. Yuuki was the worst. It was so obvious that he had unresolved issues with his old junior high go club, issues that until he worked out would haunt him for life. It was critical that he confront them. Otherwise how could Yaeko live with herself as a human being? And there was the matter of the Akari girl.

"Let's just stop over by the booth briefly, okay. It's that way, isn't it?"

"Sis . . ." said Yuuki menacingly.

"Or, you can go home and I can see if Fujisaki's there. I'd love to meet that girl, the one you keep a picture of, hidden in your sock drawer." There were benefits to being the person responsible for laundry.

"Just a few minutes, then we leave. Got it?" Yuuki growled.

But Yaeko wasn't listening. Her eyes were riveted at one of the three males seated behind the go table. He was slender, and tall, with such soft dark hair, such a aristocratic nose, such dreamy eyes. Yaeko sighed despite herself.

"Yuuki, who's that player on the end?"

"I don't know," said Yuuki in an absentminded voice, he'd spotted Akari.

"What do you mean, you don't know? It's your old go team."

"I don't know any of them. No, wait, the younger guy with the straight hair . . . Oh no, they're all Shindou's go friends."

"Shindou? That settles it. It's high time you confronted that guy. If his friends are here, he's bound to be around. I know, ask the cute older one for a lesson."

"And you're doing this all for my mental health?" Yuuki sighed.

"Well, of course, why else? Come on, he's open now. Move fast or someone will beat us to him."

"Mitani-kun." said Akari as they approached, not seeming the least bit surprised. Yuuki began overcompensating by attempting to be cool. Yaeko would have to explain to him later that did not make him attractive to the opposite sex.

"I was around and I thought I'd try for a quick lesson, with . . . " his eyes met the youngest player on the end, and Yaeko could almost feel the displacement activity. She gave Yuuki a light kick in the shin to re-focus him. It worked.

" - whoever you are," and he pointed at the appropriate dreamboat.

"Isumi Shinichiro." the man said, and lowered his eyelids demurely. Yaeko gave Yuuki a subtle, but sharp nudge.

"I'm Mitani, this is my sister, Mitani." Nudge. "Mitani Yaeko." He sat down. "Give me a hard problem, I'll see if I can solve it."

Yaeko watched as Isumi placed a row of black stones around a circle of whites. "Is there anyway for white to survive?" he asked and Yuuki leaned over to study the board.

"You're Mitani?" asked the straight haired boy, a curious look on his face. "Your rival was here earlier." 

"My rival? From the way you acted at that one tournament, Touya-san, I'd have thought Shindou was _your_ rival." Yuuki turned to the third boy and said in a conspiratorial manner, "Touya-san threw a major fit in the middle of the game because Shindou wasn't playing good enough. I could have told him Shindou sucked." 

Yuuki placed a black stone just outside the whites circle. Isumi placed one nearby and they continued placing stones until Isumi took all the stones Yuuki had placed, plus a few more. It didn't make any sense to Yaeko, but she did note that Isumi's hands were both delicate and purposeful in their movements.

"You had the right idea." said Isumi, "Want to have another go at it?"

Yuuki nodded and they began to rearrange the stones.

"But I thought Shindou was a really strong player," said Yaeko, "I mean, he always seemed to win the games at the cafe."

"Shindou played go at a cafe?" asked Isumi.

"On the internet," Yaeko explained, "I used to let him play for free on the days I worked. He came in all the time one summer break. It must have been over four years ago."

"What?" the boy with the spiky hair was suddenly very alert, "Do you remember what handle he used to use?"

"Handle? Oh, you mean his online name." Yaeko thought out loud, "It was San or Sal or -"

"Sai?" he'd jumped out of his chair by this point, "was it Sai?"

"Sai, yes, I think that was it. I thought he was really good for such a little kid."

"Sai." the boy said again.

"What about Sai?"

Yaeko turned around to see Shindou. She hadn't seen him in years, but he still had that skater half bleached hair. She felt a pang of sadness for her brother. Shindou had been cute as a junior high schooler, but he'd gotten downright sexy, in that rugged action star sort of way. If Fujisaki indeed had a crush on Shindou, Yuuki wasn't going to be able to steal her away based on looks alone, and Yaeko didn't have much faith in her brother's personality.

"What about Sai?" Shindou repeated, he was holding two plates of skewered meat products.

"We need to talk," and the agitated boy practically dragged him away.

Yaeko leaned over her brother until her elbow was at his neck height. Nudge.

"Um, I need to talk to Shindou too." said Yuuki, "Thanks for the game, Isumi-san." 

Yaeko took the seat her brother had just vacated and smiled.

"What's with your friend, Isumi-san?" she asked curiously, and hoped her lipstick hadn't faded.

"Waya's been trying to figure out Sai's real world identity for years." Isumi said. "And he just found out it was one of his closest friends. Big surprise, huh Touya? That means Shindou has one more win on you than you thought."

"I figured out who was behind Sai a long time back. Waya played Sai on the internet, he should have been able to solve the mystery simply through his matches with Shindou" Touya said in an offhanded manner.

"Don't be so smug," said Isumi evenly, clearly showing himself to be above such pettiness, "Waya doesn't have your unbreakable bond of rivalry." 

Touya said nothing and went back to the problem his pupil was trying to solve. Yaeko's psychology Spider-sense was tingling, but really, she couldn't be expected to solve everyone's hidden conflicts, could she? 

* * * 

"There, that was the correct sequence of moves. Nicely done." Akira complimented the teenage girl he had been working with. "Have you ever considering trying a real game? Perhaps you could come by and attend the club's practices."

Through a fit of giggles, the girl shook her head and scurried away.

"Lost another one, sorry Fujisaki-san." Akira apologized.

"No, Touya-san. You've been doing wonderfully." 

Better than the still absent Shindou, Akira was sure she'd want to say. But she just smiled.

Akira had met Fujisaki only a handful of times, but he had judged her to be one of those sweet girls, the type all good Japanese males wanted desperately for a wife. Bully for Shindou.

"That's utterly fascinating," Akira overheard Mitani's sister say to Isumi, "You don't suppose he's got some sort of split personality thing going on? I don't have abnormal psych until next semester, but I remember reading an article in Cosmo . . . Say, do you have any free time free after this? There's this marvelous coffee shop just down the street and you could show me more about this game. I've always wanted to learn how to play go."

"Haze Junior High certainly had a colorful student body," said Akira, hoping she didn't take it the wrong way.

"Kaio had its share of nonconformists too, I recall," said a college-aged man who slid into the vacant chair before Akira, "When you were around, they all came out of the woodwork."

He was terribly good looking, with a refined polish that gave him a dangerous air. Akira noted that he no longer wore glasses, but otherwise the ex-first board of Kaio's junior high go team hadn't changed much. Apparently, Shindou wasn't the only one cursed with confronting old classmates today.

"Kishimoto-sempai," Akira said by way of greeting.

"Sempai?" Kishimoto raised an eyebrow. "Meaning you're continuing with your education despite your pro status? Impressive, but then you were always impressive, weren't you?"

There was a faint red color to Kishimoto's cheeks and nose. Akira wondered if he'd been drinking. He was certainly old enough.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kishimoto, beating Akira to the question.

"I asked him to come," said Fujisaki, and Akira was grateful for the sincerity in her voice.

"And you?" Akira countered.

"Same. Girlfriend's a student teacher here." Kishimoto said in an offhand manner.

Touya was about to correct the man's implied assumption, but Kishimoto kept talking.

"This must bring back memories for you, surrounded by players of such marginal skill in comparison to your own. Bet you're bored silly, just like you were in our little go club."

"I wasn't bored." Akira insisted.

"Only because you weren't really in our club, you were just spending your afternoons in the far corner of our room, with all our games and matches no more to you than the buzzing of insects in the background. Sorry, sake always makes me wax poetic. Don't get me wrong, I think if you had interacted with us it would have been far more damaging."

There was truth in Kishimoto's recounting of Akira's days with the Kaio junior high club. Akira's memories of that time were a mix of anticipation and expectations for his coming match with Shindou. He had been aware that his goals put pressure on the team, upsetting the natural order of their world. But really, beyond his go ability, he was an insignificant seventh grader, although he knew better than to goad the man with that point.

"Does the great Touya-sensei ever play go with you? Not teaching games, I mean to win?" Kishimoto turned to Fujisaki, who silently shook her head. "Then you wouldn't know, its only when a person goes head to head with another, its only when you see your opponent effortlessly counter your every move, crush your every advancement that you can really see the gulf between yourself and them.

"That was the real reason why our vice-president quit. Not because of humiliation at having lost a blind go game with you, or because he got caught at his unsavory tactics. He just came face to face with the reality that after three years of training and devotion to the game, he was nowhere near, and never would be at your level. Discouraging, isn't it?"

"That's not fair," said Fujisaki, coming to his defense, "Just because he's really good -"

"Really good?" Kishimoto let out a derisive snort, "Really good is the old guy that cleans up at the go Salon every Saturday. What you are, Touya Akira, is an abnormality. Even among the pros I suspect you're something extraordinary."

"I . . ." Akira's protest died on his lips. Kishismoto's words were complementary after all, even if his intent was not.

"On some level, though, it must be frustrating. I mean, when your naturally that gifted, where's the challenge? Is that why you went all delusional about that Haze student? Were you so desperate for someone to pace yourself against that you elevated some second rate player to be your rival? What was his name . . ."

"Shindou." said Akira. Behind Kishimoto, flanked by Waya and that Mitani kid, was Shindou. His lips were pursed, and his eyes held the intensity he usually reserved for go matches. How long had he been standing there?

"Shindou. That's sounds about right." said Kishimoto, once again misinterpreting the situation. "Last I heard he was going to try and get into the Insei. Do you suppose he ever did?" 

_He didn't know?_ It was possible he'd missed seeing Shindou's qualifying for the pros. But Shindou had been written up in the go press several times since then. Perhaps Kishimoto hadn't recognized the name? 

"You quit playing go." Said Shindou.

Kishimoto turned so Akira couldn't see his expression, but his shoulders were tense and his hand clenched slightly. 

"You didn't even play in high school, did you?" Shindou advanced to the table and Kishimoto turned his head back and forth between Shindou and Akira, looking trapped.

"And you base this assumption on . . .? Let me guess, you're a pro player now and I didn't know it? Did you think it's maybe because the go magazines are second rate journalism that I don't bother to read?"

"No," said Shindou. 

Akira caught just the faintest half grin on Shindou's lips, although he doubted anyone who hadn't logged long hours at a go board with the boy would have seen it. It was all the look that Shindou would allow himself when he'd figured out how to win the game. It was a look that Akira had learned to be careful around.

"I base it on your having a completely whacked view of the game. I'd guess you hadn't touched a go stone in years if you think that Touya's got it that easy."

"Oh, I see." Kishimoto sneered, but Shindou didn't even flinch. "You've succeed in catching up with him and now the two of you are caught in an never ending struggle to see who's the best? Were you an undiscovered go genius after all?"

"Being a go genius doesn't even get you out of the preliminary go pro trials, or into the first class of the Insei. Do you think you didn't advance because of talent?"

"What?" Kishimoto's face was red, no longer from just sake.

"Shindou," said Waya, "I remember playing this guy, he wasn't that strong."

"Kishimoto-san wasn't strong because he never pushed himself past the point where it was easy for him. He got into the Insei and played second class, but quit when he couldn't make it in the first class, he played junior high school go, and I'll bet he quit when he had to start playing high schoolers."

"What would you know about it?" 

All the smoothness was gone from the man's voice. He pushed himself away from the table and stood squarely before Shindou. Kishimoto had a good three inches on him._ I'm taller than Kishimoto now_, Akira realized. 

"I know that not one of us," Shindou said, not fazed by Kishimoto's height, "not even Akari, and certainly not Touya-san hasn't had to work for every improvement in go skills. Bet you still play like you did in junior high. Want me to prove it?"

"How? Is there some special pro trick that allow you to judge my abilities?"

"Sure," said Shindou, cheerfully. Meaning he'd already won, Shindou never relaxed, not even in yose. "You're going to play Mitani."

"Who?" asked Kishimoto, at the same time that Mitani said:

"What?" 

"Remember how he completely wiped the floor with you that one tournament?" Shindou turned to Mitani, the good natured smile back on his face, "If he beats you again, it means that he's improved, or that you haven't gotten any stronger since junior high."

"I've gotten way better since then!"

"Then, it's the perfect test. Let him have your seat, Touya."

Akira stood and moved to the side of the table.

"I don't see why I have to get dragged into a go game to prove your point," protested Mitani.

"Yuuki!" came the voice of the other Mitani, "You're going to play the game. It will be good for you."

Mitani gulped and did as he was told. Akira gave silent thanks for being an only child. Kishimoto looked as if he would protest, but returned to his seat. They nigiri'd, and Mitani took black.

"Hey, Touya." Shindou whispered in his ear, "Let's go."

"Huh, what? Aren't you interested in seeing who wins."

"Mitani, no contest. Look, the guy's sweating already. Come on."

Without waiting to see if he would follow, Shindou took off. Fujisaki looked like she wanted to run after him, but instead she turned to Akira and gave him a half smile and shrug. The others, focused on the opening moves, didn't notice as Akira slipped away.

"Where are we going?" Akira asked as he caught up to Shindou.

"The magic club looked like they had some really good ramen."

"You won't have any room for dinner."

"Oh, I thought I'd disappear before then."

"What?"

"I bet they all go out in a group afterwards, so they won't miss me." Shindou was smiling, but not fully. "'sides, it would be awkward, me and Mitani, and me and Waya. He's still riled about the whole internet go thing, best to give him a few days."

They found the stand and Shindou paid for the meals before Akira could get out his wallet. They sat down at the picnic table nearby and started eating. 

Were these intentional actions on Shindou's part? Akira wondered. Sometimes Shindou seemed to set up moves in advance, just like in go, and other times, he'd simply dig himself deeper and deeper. But, even then, he could sometimes make a good move out of a bad one. Akira decided to say nothing for now.

"Mitani's going to owe me after today." said Shindou presently, "He gets a rematch against Kaio and goes out to dinner with Akari. Probably gets his sister off his back too. He was telling me about her, she's gotten weird."

"Shouldn't you be setting Mitani-san up with Kaneko-san?"

"Nope, it's Akari he's in love with. Probably since middle school." 

_But Fujisaki's in love with you,_ thought Akira. Could Shindou not realize it? 

"Did Mitani tell you that too?" he asked instead.

"When a guy is that desperately in love with someone, you'd have to be blind not to see it. Since Akari's the one he's interested in, it must be even more obvious. No way a person could miss that." The way Shindou phrased the words, it was as if he was trying to make the comment seem offhanded. Or maybe Akira was just reading into it.

"But," he tried to say lightly, "what if the interest isn't returned."

"Then it gets complicated." This was not said in anything near an offhanded manner. Shindou was staring expectantly at Akira, waiting for him to make the next move.

And Akira was at a loss.

He had to be talking about Fujisaki. Shindou must mean that he wasn't interested in her and perhaps he was looking to Akira for advise. But why not say her name? Why not ask Isumi who was probably far more experienced in these manners? Why had Shindou made it a point to show him around the festival earlier today? Why had he stood up to Kishimoto on Akira's behalf? Why, whenever Akira had made up his mind on how he regarded Shindou, did Shindou catch him completely off guard, with a simple look, a carefully chosen word, a deviously placed stone?

It was a long moment. The whole situation was unexpected, and beyond him. He couldn't deal with it now, and looked away.

"It's nearly six." said Shindou, and the silence was broken. "Don't you have to be somewhere?"

"Oh, you're right. I'm sorry about this." Akira stood up and gave a small bow, secretly grateful for the ability to retreat for now.

"Don't be," Shindou seemed completely at ease, as if the previous conversation hadn't meant anything. Maybe it hadn't. "We're still meeting on Tuesday evening at the go salon, right?"

"Sure," Nothing had changed after all. And that was what Akira wanted, wasn't it?

"Good, we're rivals after all." Shindou walked out of the stand and headed back in the direction of the go club's demonstration area.

"You're comfortable still using that term?" Akira called after him.

"I'm not going to stop using it because some girl's given it shojou implications, if that's what you mean. See ya, Touya." 

"Goodbye, Shindou." 

Shindou waved, but didn't turn around. In a moment he'd disappeared in the crowd. Akira sighed and headed in the opposite direction.

Nothing had changed. Shindou didn't suspect, and even if he momentarily had, Akira hadn't revealed anything.

"Waya-san," and a hand fell on his shoulder. "You know, you're not fooling anyone."

Akira jumped a foot. It was the crazy ex go player from before. In the light of the setting sun he looked even more maniacal.

"You put up a good face at the stand. Honestly, I barely suspected it then. But just now, with Shindou there. I could tell, just from your body language. Didn't even need to hear the two of you, although it was nice to confirm it for sure."

"I . . . don't . . ." Akira glanced nervously from side to side. It wouldn't be terribly mature, but he could try to outrun the guy.

"I'm afraid you've been found out, Touya Akira." And he let out a thundering laugh.

He had been talking about his identity. Akira blinked feeling both relief and astonishment.

"It was a good try. But, I'd have tracked you down eventually. I must have really riled you with my quantum computer talk, huh?"

"Oh, yes. Completely," Akira assured him.

"Sorry, it's the way Moore's law works. Enjoy your days in the sun while they last." He seemed to swagger as he left. Akira wondered if the Americans knew what they were in for. 

It was getting late and Akira needed to get home. Ogata-sensei was coming by for a friendly match, and Akira was looking forward to a battle where he knew the rules of engagement. 

* * * 

Author's notes and apologies:

I haven't read past Manga 17, so apologies if I've got some of the relationships or the state of the Go club wrong.

As far as Kaga goes. I've assumed he's quite brilliant (Tsutsui made the comment that Kaga didn't have to study for his high school qualifying exams) He's also a freshman in college and over enthusiastic about the progress of science, physics in particular. 

The best current computer go programs can barely beat medium ability amateur players. The difficulty lies in the number of possible moves that can be played at each turn. Computational-wise, go is at least an order of magnitude more difficult than chess, and it took IBM a long time before they came up with a computer that could beat Kasparov (and the IBM guys still tweaked it to be strong against Kasparov's particular weakness.) 

A quantum computer, if they ever figure out how to make one, would carry out a mind boggling number of computations simultaneously (don't ask me how) and could conceivably, with the right programming be able to predict all possible configurations of a go game to choose a winning strategy. But the physicists are a long ways from even making early prototypes.

Moore's law, by the way is that computer's abilities double every five years.

Finally, I needed a bad guy for conflict purposes, so I grabbed Kishimoto. He's not such a petty character in either the manga or anime, but I've always thought it was rather convent that he motivated Shindou to try for the Insei, with the results being another tournament win for Kaio. 

When I started this, I was planning on concluding it here, but have sense developed a few more ideas, I'll have to see if they work out on paper. From now on, I'm keeping an end in mind, otherwise the short sketch keeps growing and growing.


	3. A Complicated Mattter

Conversations over a Go Board - chapter 3 

A Complicated Matter  
by Kim Smuga-Otto  
  
  


Disclaimer - these are not my characters, this is not my world or set up, all credit, thanks and apologies go to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi. 

All right, one more chapter. This one's more serious, more introspective, with fewer cameos by other characters. Hope you like it.

* * * 

_Pachin._ Shindou played the first black stone in his right hand corner. It was standard fuseki, placed with the ease and strength of any experienced player, and only Akira's recollections connected it to their first game, played in this same corner of the go salon. His eyes were drawn to one intersection of lines on the board. The spot had no significance for this game, but previously, what was it, five years ago . . .

It hadn't been the best move. It hadn't been the strongest move. It had been the move to test him, Touya Akira. What presumption, from an unknown grade schooler who could barely hold a stone, but Akira had lost that game by half a moku. From that day, Akira's attitude to go, no, his whole world had changed, though he hadn't acknowledged it until much later.

Shindou had played such a move recently, although it was not on a go board.

"When a guy is desperately in love with someone, you'd have to be blind not to see it." Shindou had said. To which Akira had asked:

"But if the interest is not returned?"

"Then it gets complicated," was Shindou's reply, his testing move.

Complicated.

The beauty of having secret, unrequited feelings, is that since nothing will come of them, you don't have to explain them, even to yourself. Until that moment, they had simply existed in Akira, bringing him no joy, no pain, not even discomfort.

But now, things were complicated, in Akira's mind, if nowhere else.

Shindou had never brought up the issue, and his mannerisms and attitude towards Akira hadn't changed

No, that wasn't true. Sometime over the past four months since that silly junior high festival, they'd begun to act more as friends, much to everyone's surprise. It wasn't anything overt. It was just that, as two professional go players, they tended to end up at the same events, and it was perfectly reasonable for them to hang out together afterwards or beforehand. It made sense for them to compare notes, to have study sessions, to eat lunch together. And every time, Akira had felt a terrifying mix of nervousness and pleasure.

"You're taking an awfully long time on your first move." observed Shindou.

"Trying to catch you off your guard," replied Akira. He hadn't realized his mind was wondering so. He played a standard opening.

"You'd need a lot more facial hair and a motorcycle to pull that off." said Shindou, a cryptic smile on his face. _Pachin_.

"You all set for Hiroshima tomorrow?" asked Akira.

"Pretty much. It's a laid back exhibition from what I can tell. And both you and Fuku will be there, should be fun."

"Yes," agreed Akira.

_I heard Hiroshima okonomoyaki is really good, you want to go out to eat some together_? Too desperate, and besides, they'd almost certainly do that anyway. _I read that they've just finished rebuilding the Mijyajima Shrine, we could catch the fairy and check it out_. Too much commitment. _Want to go visit the A-bomb museum?_ Way too depressing.

Akira settled for inviting Shindou into a skirmish in the far left corner and was pleased to see his opponent respond. For now, this was all he was ready for.

* * * Akira's tutoring game finished quickly. He hoped it wasn't because he'd been impatient, and forced himself to be extra conscientious when giving an explanation. After all, there was no reason for him to rush off to see Shindou's demonstration. 

It was one of those publicity matches, specifically set up to interest young players. The announcers were by far the best looking of the female pros. Shindou and his opponent, Fuku, who'd only made pro this last year, had been chosen for their boy next door look and specifically asked to dress casually. The result of the game was deemed less important than the door prizes to be given out at the end. Akira had no doubt that Shindou would win.

Still, it would be an opportunity to watch Shindou across the room with no fear of him looking up and making eye contact. Or maybe he might . . . Akira gave himself a mental slap across the face, and forced himself to concentrate on the game's analysis.

Afterwards he walked over to the demonstration hall, only to find it in the process of emptying. Kids, including ones as old as himself, were pouring out of the room. 

"Oh, and that one move!" said a breathless boy, sixth grade at most, "It was so cool."

"How did it go again?" His companion asked.

Amazing thought Akira, it might have actually worked. He allowed himself the barest of smiles while he imagined a new wave of young go players, inspired by Shindou and company. Something to rival even the Koreans.

"Hold the A and up key together then B C A C C. None of the other mortal combat characters stand a chance against it, except that girl."

Of course the go craze might need a few more exhibition matches before it swept the nation. And maybe a video game version. 

"Ohhh, my brain . . . hurts." The female voice was deep and rumbly, like that of a shinto priestess or an enka singer with a hangover.

Akira turned to see Torikura Ruri, fifth dan, leaning against the wall. Akira had played her regularly and encountered her at numerous go related events, but this was the first time he'd seen her in a dress, and a short pink one to boot. He couldn't help but notice the run in her nylons.

"All those kids a bit much, Torikura-san?" ventured Akira.

"Yes," she said, between clenched teeth, "And the two sitting behind the go board, they were the worst of the bunch."

"Shindou wouldn't . . ." Akira started, and then caught himself. What could Shindou do to mess up a demonstration match?

Torikura rolled her eyes.

"We had a whole prepared lecture on fuseki planned," she explained. "And we asked them to play the first confrontation slowly, so we'd have enough time to carefully explain the significance of the attacks." She put a hand to her face, "They were into their first corner engagement before we even got the opening stones attached to the display board. Within ten minutes it was all I could do to call out the moves and hope Umezawa could get the stone placed before their next move. And at the end of the match, Shindou tells Fuku that he's gotten slow. Give me the old perverted men any day."

A small boy with far too much energy bounced by: "I want to play like those boys, Mom! I want to play fast and make the stones make that noise. Pachin. Pachin. Pachin."

His mother, keeping a firm grip on his hand nodded and said "We're visiting your grandfather tomorrow, I'm sure he'd love to play with you."

"I need a smoke," announced Torikura and stalked off.

"Oh, but the worst was when I screwed up with the placing of Shindou-kun's stone," this new voice was considerably more upbeat. Akira turned to see Umezawa Yukari walking out with Shindou and Fuku. 

She looked quite at ease in the short flowered miniskirt and top. Fuku kept glancing at her, a rapt look on her face. Well, she was commonly referred to as the idol star of go.

"Torikura-sensei called the correct position," Shindou pointed out.

"I know, I know," Umezawa giggled, "but by that point Torikura-kun had miscalled once already, and honestly, that's where I would have placed the stone. Oh, Touya-kun, we were just going to look for you."

"I hear it was some game."

"Those two," Umezama shook her head, "are trouble. But they're also very sweet, and very cute, and as I have three older brothers, I'm used to such shenanigans."

Fuku blushed, especially at the cute part, although Akira couldn't help but notice that Umezawa's eyes were firmly on Shindou as she made this pronouncement. Shindou didn't seem to notice.

"Are you hungry, Touya?" Shindou asked, "I've got a recommendation for a really good okonomiyaki place."

"Say you'll come, Touya-kun." begged Umezama. "We're going to try to talk Torikura-kun into coming and Shindou-kun's invited this amateur player he knows. It will be fun."

"And we're going to order beer." Fuku chimed in.

"Hey," said Umezama, "How old are you anyway?"

That many people, and alcohol . . . Akira was certain he'd much prefer staying in the hotel. It's wasn't like he'd be missed. "I really don't think-"

"Oh, come on Touya, please come." said Shindou.

"Well . . ." Akira could tell by Shindou's smile that it was a genuine request, "all right then."

* * * 

Hikaru hadn't planned to be the designated sober person. Not that he'd wanted to get drunk, that was Fuku's stated goal. He'd been planning the night's escapades, far from his mother's careful watch, for nearly two months. But after their stunt at the demonstration, Shindou had figured at least one of them had to be on good behavior.

Not that it mattered. Torikura, arriving in tight leather pants and a coat with studs in it, had wasted no time challenging Shuhei, Hiroshima's top amateur player, to a drinking contest. Umezama had a seemingly unending line of men sending drinks her way and was, consequently, very 'happy' at the moment.

"It's no fair," she wailed, "you're a boy, Hikaru-kun. You shouldn't have such great hair. I can't even find your roots here!" and she leaned over to groom his hair.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hikaru saw Touya down another cup of sake. Fuku, as the youngest member of the group was more than adequately performing his role as drink pourer, quite amazing considering that he'd lost most of his hand-eye coordination.

"How about my hair, Umezama-kun?" asked Fuku, a slight whine to his voice. Hikaru feared Fuku was going to be one of those sentimental drunks.

"It's spiky," replied Umezama, "but Hikaru's is the bestest." and she pinched his cheek.

"Or Touya's?" said Hikaru, hoping to distract her.

"Nope, Hikaru-kun's the bestest."

Touya took a long sip from his sake cup, once more disturbingly full. Leaving Hikaru to wonder just what sort of drunk Touya would be.

It turned out he was the sort that overcompensated, slowing down his moves and guarding his words. There was a slight curve to his steps that Hikaru noticed as they left the restaurant, but not enough to worry Hikaru. 

Which was good, because he had his hands full with Fuku and Umezama. Torikura had disappeared earlier with Shuhei, leaving Hikaru to wonder why adults made such idiots of themselves at these out of town conventions.

They dropped Fuku off at the room he shared with Hikaru first, then made their way to Umezama's room on the third floor. She had to give his hair a few more rub-downs and only let them leave after he swore he'd set her up an appointment with his stylist - his mom would be thrilled.

Touya had a decidedly unhappy look on his face, so Hikaru decided to walk him back to his room, just in case. Once there, Touya plopped himself down in front of the go board.

"I'm ready to answer your move, Shindou," he announced.

"Are you sure you're up to playing go?" asked Hikaru, confused. He should probably get back to his own room. Isumi had made him promise to see that Fuku got plenty of water to drink, and aspirin, and there were at least five other preventive hangover cures to administer. Hikaru had been forced to write them down.

"I'm finally ready for you, Shindou." Touya insisted, "Nigiri."

It wasn't worth the argument. Hikaru took his place opposite to Touya and selected two stones. Slowly and methodically, Touya counted his out loud. Seven. Hikaru would be white.

"You don't have a roommate," Hikaru noted as they cleared the board.

"Canceled. Sick." replied Touya. 

Hikaru watched Touya scrutinizing the board. He could tell from cold calculation of his rival's eyes, the determine set of his mouth, Touya was playing for real. His arm shot out, his wrist snapped down to place the stone, and his fingers, fumbled. He caught it before the it hit the board, but it was with thumb and two forefingers that Touya placed his stone, and it wobbled. Hikaru looked away, but still caught the scowl on Touya's face. Their game had started.

Hikaru was distracted through the opening fuseki. Would a sober Touya be ticked off that Hikaru was humoring him with this game, or would he be offended if Hikaru went easy on him? It wasn't until they entered the first securing of territory that he realize what he'd been been playing. It was Sai's go.

Memorizing games had been one of the first go skills Hikaru had mastered. It was simple really, because each move was a response to the previous. The game was like a dialog between the two opponents, and the placed stone was a word, or sentence, or look. Knowing the end result made it simple to reconstruct everything that came before. Not that Hikaru could follow conversations terribly well. If he could, he'd end up with his foot in his mouth a lot less. 

Sai's go was elegant, smooth, and seemed to Hikaru to dance about the board, masking strategic significance with tactical importance. In comparison, Hikaru's own go seemed to him straightforward and unrefined. But sometimes, Hikaru would see an opportunity with such potential, such hidden meaning that he suspected that even Sai would be at a loss. Those moves were beyond any player's personal style; they were the hand of god.

What Hikaru was playing now was plainly just an imitation of Sai's style. Hikaru had played so many games against the ghost, it was impossible not to remember that in current corner battle, Sai would prefer a hoshi to a knight's move, and then he'd jump back to strengthen his mid-board position. 

Hikaru wouldn't have even considered such careless inattention to overall strategy if Touya weren't inebriated. The way the other boy was blinking, Hikaru wonder if he could even focus property on the board.

If I were to play this whole game, using only Sai's moves, thought Hikaru, what would happen? Sai was gone, he'd accepted that long ago. But he never gave up trying to discover aspects of the ghost. Visit Sushaku Honnibo's grave on just the right day, at just the right phase of the moon. Open an umbrella as fast as possible and glance right. Like magical incantations, they never worked, but Hikaru couldn't stop himself from trying them out. He strengthened his hoshi attack.

Slowly a pattern took shape. There was a spot that in less then five more of these Sai style moves, would secure the entire corner. It was utterly insignificant now, Hikaru just had to be patient. Touya was intent on the far corner which Hikaru already controlled, it was just a matter of walling off his advances to secure it completely.

Pach.... Touya's unsteady hand placed a stone in the center of Hikaru's territory, and Hikaru almost smiled. Then the pattern clicked in his brain. 

How could he have missed it? And worse, the spot had been open for some time. He could counter here, still save maybe half of his holdings. But there was another opening here, and that area was barely defended. As Hikaru looked at the board as a whole, he had to fight the urge not to groan.

He hadn't been playing Sai's go, he recognized. It was more like when Tsutsui had needed to consult his books before moves. Worse, Tsutsui had least been paying attention to the overall board.

Hikaru smiled and sighed, thankful that he'd at least attempted this experiment with no witnesses besides Touya, who with luck wouldn't even remember the match. If Sai were here, he'd be laughing behind his fan. If Sai were here. . .

He bent his head slightly and said:

"I have nothing."

When he looked up, Touya's dilated eyes were intently focused on him.

"No," he replied, his words clearly enunciated, "You have everything."

His right hand steadying himself on the goban, Touya's left hand slipped under the blond tresses. He leaned over and kissed Hikaru's lips.  


* * *  


Akira was dreaming of go, a common occurrence. He was watching a game between two shadowed figures, but was having trouble focusing on the board. PACHIN. The sound of the shadow player placing his stone was deafening, thundering, reverberating through the room, through Akira's whole body.

PACHIN. The second player placed his stone. PACHIN. PACHIN. PACHIN!

Akira awoke. The board and players were gone, but the reverberations continued to pound through his head. Was he dying?

He turned his head to the small table with his alarm clock, next to the all too bright digital display reading 7:32, he found a glass of water, two red pills and a note:

_Figured you'd need these. And they say you should drink lots of water. Hope you're not too sick to tutor go tomorrow. See ya. _

_ - Shindou_

Akira blinked, or tried to. How could Shindou know he'd wake up so ill? Slowly, the events of last night began to percolate through his brain, painfully. There was the bar, the sake, Fuku and Shindou fawning over Umezama, and more sake. Well, that was monumentally stupid. Shindou's friend Waya was going to have a field day when he found out. Although, since Waya usually berated him for being too stuffy and reserved, it would be a change of pace.

He took the pills and drank the water. He hadn't changed out of his clothes, which smelled heavily of smoke. Even more indicative of his state, he hadn't cleared the stones off the go board. _When did I play go and just how much did I drink last night?_

It was obviously a game with Shindou, Akira could tell that much from the positioning of the white stones. So he must have played black. He studied the board some more. What a frightful game, Shindou must have been even more judgment-impaired than Akira. How else to explain the pattern of stones in the far corner, or the ludicrous exchange near the center.

Slowly the game was coming back to him. Akira remembered seeing the unprotected corner, at first figuring it must be a trap set by Shindou. He'd watch it for five moves, before temptation got the better of him. It would be worth losing the game to see what Shindou was planning. 

The look on the other boy's face was priceless - complete and utter shock. If only Akira had been able to pull off such a coup when they were both sober, it would have been such a sweet victory. As it was, Akira remembered thinking that Shindou was absolutely adorable when he was flustered. Then he hung his head and resigned, with such sadness in his eyes, such disappointment in his jaw line, that Akira just couldn't help but kiss him.

The memory rushed full force through his brain, and Akira felt his face flush. What idiocy could have compelled him to make such a mistake? His heart was racing and he couldn't get enough oxygen to his lungs.

It was unlikely that his rival would talk personally with him ever again. Their public appearances would be strained and formal, their matches played in silence. They'd never meet informally in the go salon. With such a barrier between them, could they ever truly play go again?

His body was shaking, cold from the inside out. Returning to his bed, Akira's eyes fell upon the note. When had Shindou written it? Surely before the game, before Akira's blunder. But . . .

Hadn't Akira demanded the game first thing upon entering the room? And someone must have gotten him to bed? If Shindou had written the note afterwards, wouldn't it have been a bit more curt? He wasn't expecting anything along the lines of "don't ever speak to me again, you pervert." But the note seemed genuinely cheerful. What could it mean?

He had to ask Shindou. He had to ask him now.

Still dressed in his clothes from the night before, Akira headed to Shindou's room. That this might be a bad idea occurred to him, but what could be an even remotely good idea, given the situation?

A green faced Fuku answered the door.

"Touya?" he said.

"Is Shindou here?" asked Akira.

"Shindou?" Fuku repeated, a look of incomprehension on his face. "He woke me up earlier. Said he was catching the train home."

"But it's barely eight now." No use running to the train depot, Shindou was probably already on his way to Tokyo. Touya wasn't sure of the train schedule, but if he could catch a nonstop Nozumi, he could make it to Shindou's house before three.

"I wonder why he took off like that?" asked Fuku, apparently the higher thought processes were starting to engage. "Weren't we all going to leave together at one, after your tutoring session?"

His tutoring session. If he skipped that, the officials would be angry at him. His father would be disappointed. He'd ruin his reputation of being the responsible, mature member the new wave of go players, not that Shindou hadn't pulled worse in the past.

"Fuku, will you do me a favor?" asked Touya, feeling like a louse, "Would you take over my tutoring session? Please?"

"Me?" Fuku looked astonished. "But I've only tutored once before."

"You'll do great," said Touya, marveling at how easy the assurances slipped from his lips, "It's for younger players. They're probably more familiar with you because of yesterday's game. Here, I'll write down the information."

"Uh, are you sure this is okay?"

"Absolutely." Akira lied, and took off before Fuku could come up with a logical counter-argument.

He showered, changed, packed with remarkable speed and efficiency, and was lucky enough not to run into any of the expositions organizers as he left the hotel. There was a nine o'clock non-stop train, he even managed to snag a nonsmoking car, and had time to purchase a boxed meal for the train. The best part was with all the running around, he didn't have to think about what he'd do when he met Shindou, or even why he was rushing to get there. 

Once he was seated and the train pulled away from the station, all the doubts and self retributions came back to haunt him. He pushed the food away, he'd lost all appetite.

Shindou had caught the earliest train possible, meaning he didn't want to run into Akira, meaning he didn't want to see him, not now, possibly not ever. Shindou was going to be thrilled when Akira appeared on his front steps.

What madness had caused him to kiss Shindou last night? It wasn't the alcohol, that merely weakened his usually all-powerful inhibitions. He suspected it had to do with go.

Of all the professional players, save perhaps his father, Shindou was only one to care for go the way Akira did. Everyone else wanted to improve, to be the best, to advance in standing, to be recognized by others and the press, to capture or hold on to a title, to push themselves to the limits of their ability. 

Shindou played to win, but only because that was the nature of the game, and it was only with both players striving for that goal, that the game could manifest its innate beauty and completeness. A truly involved game to Akira was akin to a Buddhist mantra, a path to transcendence. And he was never as close to nirvana as when he played his eternal rival. Of course, he'd built his world around him.

So where the hell had all this physical lust come from?

Akira was no closer to an answer when he approached the Shindou residence. At which point his nerve almost gave out. What had he been thinking, coming where he was certainly unwelcome and making an ass of himself? He rationalized that it was completely in keeping with his behavior of the past twenty-four hours. Why stop when he was on a roll?

Still amazed by his own recklessness, he rang the bell. A middle aged housewife answered. Akira guessed it was Shindou's mother.

"Yes?" she gave his a pleasant if somewhat blank look.

"Sorry to bother you, but I've come to see Shindou." he gulped.

"Oh, well I'm afraid you missed him." She apologized, "He went to visit a shrine."

"A shrine?" Akira repeated. Well of course, what else do you do when your rival makes advances on you? He wondered if Shindou's actions even made sense to himself.

"Or, was it a temple?" Shindou's mother asked. "Wait just one second, he made me write it down." 

She returned a moment later with a sheet of paper in hand.

"It was the Honmyo temple, in Sugamo. I'll just give this to you, it has directions to get there."

"Shindou had you write down directions?" asked Akira, entirely dumbfounded now.

"Yes, I thought it was odd, too." she nodded in an absent manner, "But to be truthful, I understand next to nothing about his life, ever since he started playing go. There aren't any parenting advice books for mothers of go players. I know, I've looked."

She caught sight of Akira's clothing bag. He regretted not storing it in the train station lockers.

"Did you just come from the go tournament, too? If you want, you can leave your bag here. When you see Hikaru, could you remind him that I'll be at his grandfather's tonight? And his father's on a business trip, so he'll need to get his own dinner."

"Thank you." said Akira, placing his bag in the front entryway and studying the piece of paper. "Did Shindou say anything else?"

"Not that I remember." she replied, "He seemed a bit agitated. Or was that last week?"

Akira left the house utterly bewildered. Shindou must have meant for someone to follow him, and other than Touya and Fuku, no one knew he'd be home. Did Shindou want to talk to him some place where they wouldn't be overheard? In that case there had to be a shrine or temple or even playground closer to his house. Why send him all the way to Sugamo?

Unless, he thought as he entered the temple grounds, Shindou sent him here precisely because it was so far away. What a perfect way to keep Akira occupied and out of Shindou's hair. And he had fallen for it completely.

Honmyo-ji was a modest temple, with a single building, an easily maintainable zen rock garden and a small, crowded cemetery in back. It was peaceful and silent, for Tokyo. As he walked among the tall rectangular blocks that made up the cemetery, familiar black and white offerings at some of the tombstones caught his eye.

"Go stones?" he mused aloud, and read the inscription, Honinbo Dosaku. Next to it was Honinbo Jawa. 

"Twenty of them, Shusai's the big one in the middle." came a familiar voice behind him. "You figure Kuwabara-sensei will end up here? Sorry, that's kind of morbid isn't it?"

"Shindou," The boy was sitting near a tombstone with a large number of white go stones artfully arranged about it.

He was smiling. Not his big, open no-worries smile. In fact it looked a bit melancholy, but it was better then the scowl Touya had been dreading.

"Course, I bet these guys have tombs all over Japan. Easier for the tourists, but I wonder if it's confusing for their ghosts?"

Touya said nothing. Shindou had meant for him to come, the thought gave him hope.

Shindou stood, his back to Akira. "It was after my first away go exposition that I lost a good friend." His hand absently stroked the tombstone.

"Did he . . . die?" ventured Akira.

"Umm, yeah," said Shindou. "It hurt a lot when I realized I'd never see him again. But what's worse is that I wasn't a very good friend towards the end. I was too wrapped up in myself to notice what was happening to him. I didn't like the things he was saying, so I stopped listening. Maybe I thought if I could just ignore the problems, they'd go away. But instead, he went away."

Shindou turned to Akira, his eyes had the same sadness as last night, when he lost the game.

"I made a big mistake back then. But I want to think I learned from it." He took a deep breath and in a determined voice continued, "Touya, I don't want to lose another friend because I failed to pay attention."

"Shindou," the words poured fourth from Akira, "I'm sorry, about last night. I shouldn't have - I never . . . I promise, I'll never do it again. I'll never . . ."

"Kiss me?"

Akira bowed his head and nodded, thankful and deeply embarrassed that it was Shindou who spoke the words first. Shindou sighed and ran his fingers through his blond streaks. It was all out in the open.

"I believe you, Touya. You have more self control than is good for you. But I need to know why you did it. I don't want to be forever wondering if you're secretly in love with me."

"You'd prefer that I was openly in love with you?" Akira was shocked by own his boldness. He hoped his eyes weren't bugging out like Shindou's.

Amazing how a deserted temple and a bit of honesty can lead a person to saying things he didn't even dare think. Unwanted sexual attraction could be embarrassing, even unacceptable. Unrequited love was that, plus so much more heartbreak. One look in Shindou's eyes made Akira certain he wasn't going to get a reciprocal confession of love.

There was a very pregnant pause.

"I know I don't want to lose your friendship, Touya. Beyond that, I hadn't given it much thought. I kind of knew that you liked me a bit more then just friends. But . . ."

_Out with it, Shindou,_ Akira wanted to scream, _is there a chance or not_?

"Shindou," he tried to keep his voice calm, "how did you feel, when we kissed? Tell me?"

"How did I feel . . . Well, surprised, for starters."

"And then." It was like pulling teeth.

"And . . . I think surprised was pretty much it."

"Just surprised?"

"Well, maybe a bit shocked. But mostly just surprised."

It was Akira's turn to grab at his hair. "You mean to tell me, that after a year of fantasizing about it, I finally have the bad judgment of kissing you, and all you felt was surprised?"

"Well, it was unexpected." replied Shindou defensively, "And short too. I mean, it was at most three seconds. And it took me at least half that time to realize what was going on. Geez, what do you want me to say?"

"Something that let me know where I stand with you. Anything from 'It grossed me out beyond comprehension' to 'not as bad as kissing my aunt.' Okay, let's put things in more simple terms. Guys or girls, which are you interested in?"

"Um . . ." Akira cursed himself for having the misfortune of falling for someone that had to think about this one. "I've never found girls all that interesting, so few of them even know how to play go, much less are good at it. But, with guys, I mean not what's supposed to happen, biologically-wise at least."

"Yes, Shindou, biologically wise it's not that productive," Akira decided not to get side-tracked on such evolutionary peculiarities as the dung beetle, "But it does happen, I can assure you."  


"Does that mean that you're interested in-"

"Guys, Shindou. Yes."

"Oh." Another pregnant pause.

During which, a fully self serving, but potentially necessary, request formulated in Akira's mind. At some point, he rationalized, Shindou would want the companionship that came with a relationship. Why not help him narrow his search by fifty percent now.

"If you're not sure," said Akira noncommittally, "We could try an experiment."

"Like?" was Shindou's guarded reply.

"We could try another kiss. Only a kiss. You don't like it, we never speak of it again and I try to become infatuated with someone else." _And if you do like it,_ but Akira couldn't entertain such desires now.

"You know," said Shindou after a moment of what looked like deep consideration, "that's not such a bad idea. Okay, what do I do?"

"Just stand there." _Please don't let my smile look wolfish_.

Akira walked toward him and stopped mere inches away. He placed his hands on Shindou's shoulders, feeling the tenseness in his muscles. Making no sudden moves, Akira leaned forward and down.

"Uh, Shindou?"

"Yes, Touya?"

"Close your eyes."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

_Take two_, thought Akira. He tilted his head slightly and their lips touched. Akira pressed ever so gently, his lips puckering to form the kiss. It was distinctly unlike any of his fantasies. It could be only one kiss, after all, and Shindou was absolutely motionless. The kiss ended and Akira pulled back. Just before their lips parted, Akira felt the slightest of trembles, almost as if . . . 

"Have you kissed anyone before?" asked Shindou.

"A few people," he admitted.

"Guys?"

"Mostly." They were messy and awkward and led to more messiness and awkwardness. It wasn't that Akira regretted them, but he didn't want to relate the particulars of his short and potentially embarrassing love life to Shindou at this moment.

"Mostly?" Shindou continued to press, "And how many is a few?"

Akira removed his hands from Shindou's shoulders. It was either that or strangle the boy.

"Shindou, that's not important right now. Tell me what you felt, just now."

"Okay, I guess," Shindou shrugged, "I wasn't totally grossed out, and it wasn't like kissing my aunt."

Not the most encouraging reply, but Akira pushed on. He needed to know for sure.

"Did it feel odd, kissing a guy?"

"It did feel odd," said Shindou tentatively. "It certainly didn't feel natural. Do actors need to practice, because when they kiss in the movies it all looks so spontaneous. And they kiss for longer -"

"All right already," Akira didn't need to hear anymore. His promise to Shindou still held, but just now Akira wasn't feeling terribly friendly. Best to leave before he lashed out. "Sorry to have bothered you, Shindou. I'll see you later."

He wanted to get away, far away from this person he was so similar to, that he understood so well, and yet was probably disgusted by his very nature. Akira started for the street. His clothing was at Shindou's, but he'd pick it up later. He just wanted to get home, to his room, and never come out, ever again.

"Touya, wait." said Shindou and grabbed his hand. "Don't leave, Touya. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to feel sorry for, Shindou. You listened, better then I had any right to expect. Don't worry, I won't bother you with this again."

He tried to pull away, but Shindou's grip was unexpectedly strong. _Fine_, thought Touya, but _I'm not going to turn around_.

"Why won't you ever wait? Why don't you . . . " Shindou's hand loosened, his calloused fingers scraping against Akira's skin as they broke contact. "It's going to be like before."

"Before?" Akira could hear the change in Shindou's voice. It sounded . . . resigned. He doubted the boy would try to stop him from leaving now.

"After you found me in the internet cafe. You wanted me to play you then, but I wasn't ready. I wasn't strong enough yet. And instead of waiting, you made me chase after you. It took me two years to catch up."

"We won't stop playing go over this, Shindou."

"It's not just go. You're always ahead of me. I barely discover something and you're already an expert. It's not like I'm jealous of you or anything. But at least with go, I had people to practice with."

Though it was an odd speech, its meaning was clear in Akira's mind. He wondered if it was impossible to truly understand another human, or if Shindou was just particularly obtuse.

"That was your first real kiss, wasn't it, Shindou?"

It sounded ridiculous to his own ears. But Shindou didn't contradict. Turning around, he saw that the boy was blushing.

"But, you're nearly eighteen." Red. "What about Fujisaki-san?" Redder. "Or last night, Uwezama couldn't keep her hands off you?" Bright red. "Aren't I supposed to be the social introvert?"

"Well, I'm sorry for not having more time on my hands." Shindou finally blurted out. He could only be pushed so far. It was a trait that Akira was both frustrated by and envious of. "Keeping up with you in go takes a lot of time. When I'm not studying or practicing, I have all those professional commitments. And my mother still expects me to help out with the housework, you know. I wouldn't have even let you kiss me if I'd known what you intended."

"And the second time?" Akira tried to keep the grin from his face.

"You said that was an experiment!"

Shindou's hands were balled fists and his shoulders were tight. He was angry, and Akira was glad for it. He was used to dealing with an angry Shindou Hikaru. Not always gracefully, but they always got back to normal footing with each other eventually. 

"Okay, Shindou, I'll wait for you."

"No, it's not okay, you . . ." Akira imagined he could actually see Shindou's thought process derail. "You'll wait?" Akira nodded. "You'll really wait for me to to decide what I want? It might take a while." 

"I'll give you at least two years." If he was Waya, he might have tousled the spiky hair. _Oh, what the hell_. Shindou's hair was surprizingly soft, no wonder Uzemawa couldn't keep her hands off it.

"Hey." said Shindou as he ducked away from Akira. When he looked back, the big open smile was firmly in place. The tension Akira hadn't realized he'd been carrying suddenly dissipated. Things were going to be okay between the two of them.

"So," Shindou continued, "did you come straight from the exposition?"

"Yes, I left my bag at your house."

"Oh, well then you have to come by my place anyway. Want me to ask my mom if you can stay for dinner?"

"Your mother told me to tell you that she's staying at your grandfather's tonight and you're in charge of getting you own dinner."

"All right! All the more reason for you to come over. We can order in. Isn't it great how these things work out? And this way we can stay up as late as we want to playing go. Well, maybe not too late, I didn't get much sleep last night, what with . . . and you wouldn't believe how loud Fuku snores."

Akira half listened as he followed Shindou out of the temple grounds. Things did work out well, if not at all the way he expected. As always, Shindou had surprised him, confused him, disappointed him, confounded him, delighted him, and left him wanting more. Akira could wait. He suspected he would even enjoy being just friends. _Just please,_ he wished silently, _don't let him actually take two years_. 

the end * * * authors notes: 

Hey there, thanks so much for reading my fic. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it. 

For purposes of this fic, I made Fuku a new pro, I have no idea what happens to him in the real Hikaru No Go universe.

Hiroshima okonomiyaki is different then standard (Osaka) okonomiyaki, kind of like New York Style verses Chicago Style pizza. And the rule when you're out drinking is never pour you own drinks, it's like admitting you're an alchololic.

I couldn't find any photos of Honmyo-ji, so I'm not sure if my description is anywhere near to accurate. If anyone's visited it, let me know and I'll rewrite the description. Note, there's a more famous Honmyo in Kumamoto in Kyushu.  


I read about the evolutionary peculiarities of the dung beetle in David Quammen's The Flight of the Iguana. It's in the chapter Nasty Habits (I think).  


This story, especially the last bit, was inspired by lots of other people's Hikago writings, mainly the numerous confession stories. I always find that to be the best part of the romance story, and thus, I love to draw it out for as long as possible. Hope you weren't too disappointed that they didn't fall into each other's arms at the end. Originally, I was going to work in a platonic hug or something, but Hikaru's a stubborn guy, and he refused to be rushed into anything. 

This is the end of the fanfic. I thought of some other scenes, but really, this is the strongest one to finish it on. Also, I'm not sure if I really want to go on to develop a romance between Akira and Hikaru. I love the ambiguousness of the series, it's great for people's imaginations, and I wanted to keep my story open-ended as well.

Thanks so much for all the great feedback. 

  



End file.
